


The meaning of everything

by Pixeltasumi



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Closeted Character, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Slow Build, Teenage Drama, Underage Kissing, it would be oc of me to not have typos, snaibsel appears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11805564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixeltasumi/pseuds/Pixeltasumi
Summary: Dick Grayson and Wally west, aka Robin and Kid Flash has to deal with a lot normal teens wouldn't have to. For example a new threat that seems to be spreading, tracing its core back to the League of Shadows. The team takes on a simple enough mission, not knowing at all what they're getting themselves into. On top of everything things seems to be changing between the two teenage boys, how is their friendship supposed to survive it? Survive the fights, the pressure, the explosions, the hunt for cotton candy, the need for closeness and their own feelings?





	1. Project: Bibidi Babidi Sneak Attack!

**Author's Note:**

> This project is going to be a lot of fun to work on! It's a multichapter story and I'll try to keep the updates regular but school might come in between a bit as I am starting a new one. I really adore Birdflash and I hope you will like the way I develop this relationship!

Sparring had never been so boring. Artemis and Zatanna were fighting, creating the worst tension. Black Canary was for some reason in a really bad mood, worse than they’d ever seen. Resulting in the so called volunteer being knocked to the ground hard. They were supposed to show a defensive move… Even Wally knew he should shut up. But worst of all though was the lack of Boy Wonder. Robin and Superboy had been sent on a small mission to overlook some confidential transport for the league. They had left two days ago and were scheduled to return today. Still Wally was a bit irritated he hadn’t gotten the chance to go on the mission with Robin. Now there were really no one to fight with. Don’t misunderstand that. Anyone in the room could probably put up a great fight and knock Wally down a few times but Robin was the most fun to sparre with of all the members. Hell, Robin was the most fun in all the categories. Wally was interrupted in his thought bubble by Kaldur grabbing his arm and throwing him over his head, onto the floor. 

He groaned a bit and frowned, but then let through a small smile through the frown. “Nice throw man, I almost had you though.” he said giving him a thumbs up. 

Kaldur just shook his head and held out a hand for Wally. “You need to focus Wally, what’s gotten into you lately?” he asked as he helped the speedster up on his feet again. 

Wally chuckled nervously at the question. “Nothing, just the usual… Girls! And stuff like that.” He scratched the back of head, earning a suspicious look from Kaldur before he walked away rotating the stations for a new partner. 

Next up M’gann stepped up in front of Wally. She looked almost surprised to Wally’s silence and lack of flirting but she didn’t say anything. Instead they both just stood in silence waiting for the countdown of the robotic voice. 

“3… 2… 1… GO!” And they began sparring. 

The task was simple enough, get your opponent on their back for 3 seconds, no powers allowed. But Wally hadn’t won a single match yet. His head was elsewhere. Maybe with Boy Wonder? More than anything Wally just wanted to go to bed. He was tired and felt confused. Didn’t know why though. For being so smart he could be really dumb sometimes.

“What’s going on Wally, you seem distracted.” M’gann asked, but she didn’t need to speak out. She had put up a telepathic link between them, knowing Wally she believed that would be the only way to get anything out of him. 

He noticed how M’gann was starting to go easy on him so they could talk and so did he, still keeping up the act though. He did not want to piss off Black Canary today. 

“I’m just tired, nothing to worry about”, he said and sighed throwing a right punch but ‘missed’ M’gann by an inch. 

M’gann didn’t seem to buy the excuse but didn’t want to pry as she had learnt it wasn’t a very successful method with Wally.

“Okay… You’re still up for movie night with the team tonight though, right?” she asked as she fell down by one of Wally’s moves. But she quickly got up again as their conversation wasn’t over. “Even Artemis and Zatanna agreed to come. Knowing them, their fight will probably be over soon.” 

She looked over to the couple who were now put against each other. At least they could blow off some steam now. Usually Artemis would hold back a bit when sparring with Zatanna but now she seemed to be going full force on her. Zatanna wasn’t raised with the kind of training like Artemis so she was no real opponent to Artemis when they weren’t allowed to use magic. Wally thought about it. Both his parents were out of town for tonight. They were visiting friends, Wally had been asked to come along but he didn’t really feel up for it so he’d said there was a mission he had to be on. Being home alone and watching some shitty comedy alone did not seem very appealing he had to admit. He regained some focus and tripped M’gann with only 5 second left on the clock. 

The link between them broke and he smirked. “Only if you’ll be there, babe” he smiled and helped her up. He needed to get his act together, almost the whole team seemed to had noticed something was off. 

“Okay team, we’re done for today.” Black Canary announced and marched out of the room faster than anyone could really react. 

The team looked as the doors closed behind her. “Freedom at last!” Wally dramatically held up his fist. “So are we doing pizza or thai food tonight?” He asked and looked at the team. “Or both?” He smirked, making the team look at him in confusion for his sudden mood change. But they all seemed to shake it off. 

Zatanna smiled and looked at Wally. “I could go for some thai food”. 

Artemis huffed and straightened her back, turning towards Zatanna.“Well I want pizza”. 

Zatanna glared at Artemis and moved closer. M’gann quickly became aware of the potential fight and stepped in between them, giving Wally a nervous smile. 

“Then let's go for both”

“Yes!” Wally said feeling victorious, dragging out the S. 

Kaldur shook his head at the speedster smiling. Then the familiar sound of the Zeta tube echoed from the other room. 

“Recognized, Robin B01”. 

Wally was fast to hear it, not even waiting to hear Superboy’s entrance he was first out in the hall as he ran out the room, through some corridors and to the teleporter. He jumped a bit feeling excited but when he caught himself doing it he immediately stopped just in time for Robin to lock eyes with him. The raven haired boy cracked a big smile at his best friend and walked up to him. 

“Hey Wally.” he bumped his shoulder into him on purpose as he walked further into the hall. 

“Hey Di… Dickhead!” he called out. 

Dick turned his head over his shoulder and gave Wally a deserving glare. Wally was the only one Dick had entrusted his identity with so far. Not the smartest choice he admitted but it was sure nice to be able to be around Wally without those dumb glasses. Wally catched up next to Robin and his glare was already gone. He did have a hard time staying mad at Wally. The doofuss usually never meant to mess up. Usually at least. Dick messed up Wally’s hair as they entered the kitchen where the others had gathered already. First then Wally noticed Superboy behind them and he smiled towards him. Not returning the smile Superboy grunted and walked off towards the showers. 

“Okay… What was that about?” Wally asked and turned to Robin again as they stopped at the counter next to the others. 

Robin shook his head as he took of his utility belt. “The mission didn’t go as planned. The cargo was delivered but Superboy accidentally set off a trap on the way, close to ruining the whole mission. No one blamed him, except himself that is.” he sighed and sat down on one of the bar stools putting his utility belt on the kitchen island. 

Everyone in the room understood conners pain. Being the reason a mission goes wrong can take a serious hit on one's self esteem. Especially conner with his other issues it might be especially hard. The mood dropped for a moment but not long after M’gann started getting out pizza and thai food menus for the team to look over. Once everyone had ordered and conner had made it very clear he didn’t want anything Robin went to go wash off and the rest of the team waited for the food to arrive. They had ordered the food to a nearby civilian house that was a cover house for the team if they ever needed it. Though it was usually just used for ordering food. Wally had been sent out to get the food and after about 20 minutes he had returned with a huge load of food. 

“The delivery guys took 19 minutes” He sighed and sat everything down on the kitchen island. 

Without a sound Dick jumped down from his hiding place on the ceiling tackling Wally. He was no longer in his gear. Now he was wearing a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, a blue hoodie and his shades. Wally was startled at first but then realised it was one of his friends occasional sneak attacks. It had become a fun game to try to sneak up and tackle each other. They rolled around on the ground for a bit until Wally finally pushed him off. As soon as Dick got up he was tackled by Wally this time. Wally threw himself on the other and accidentally knocked down two pizzas from the counter. M’gann reacted quickly and used her powers to save the food from being splatter all over the floor. They both became a blurry ball off fighting teenage boys but they were both hysterically laughing in the meantime. 

“S-sorry M’gann!” Robin managed to get out before he successfully tickled Wally making him cry out and desperately trying to kick off boy wonder. 

Dick was laughing just as hard even though he wasn’t being tickled. Artemis sighed and rolled her eyes, before she turned away helping M’gann with the food, trying to salvage it from the boys wrestling. 

“Boys…” Both M’gann and Artemis complained in union. 

The two boys got up on their feet now trying to get some real fighting into it. Wally though got a bit distracted by the food as he tried to see it on the counter being laid up on plates by Artemis. That was enough for Dick to be able to kick Wally down the two steps separating the living room and kitchen, over the couch’s back and onto the floor in the livingroom. He fell down between the couch and the coffee table groaning. Dick went around the couch and stood in front of Wally laughing at him, basking in his victory. Wally groaned again and twisted, frowning. Dick immediately got worried and crouched down.

“Hey dude, what’s wro...” He didn’t have time to finish cause Wally had dropped his act and laughed out grabbing Dick, pinning him in the same place Wally had been knocked down on. 

Dick dropped his glasses in the process, not even noticing it in the intense struggle. The space lessened between them as they were struggling but none of the boys noticed until Wally had successfully pinned down Dick’s arms over his head. Both were out of breath trying desperately to catch it. Their eyes locked onto each others and both could feel the other's breath against their skin. When had they gotten so close? Wally’s lips were parted and without thinking he licked them and his eyes moved down to Dick’s lips. Their noses were basically touching now, nothing around them seemed to be functioning. As if the world had frozen. Dick was even more tense than he had been when they had fought and he felt the redness spread up his face. His breath was caught, completely stuck in his through. Wally’s eyes had stolen it. 

“You boys done fighting yet so we can eat?” Artemis voice was heard from the kitchen and the world around the boys started to move again. 

Wally’s eyes widened in realisation to the situation and he panicked, jumping up from his position he fell on the couch to the left of him but it wasn’t far away enough. He fumbled backwards, not realising the couch didn’t have a wall behind it he once again feel over it, this time to the other side facing the kitchen. Dick fumbled under the coffee table putting his glasses on again and quickly stood up. He looked stiff and uncomfortable. If you looked really closely you could see a small area on both cheeks were tinted red. Wally looked more like he was on a sugar rush, moving way faster than usual and fumbling with the words. 

“Y-yes we, we’re done.” He said and hurried out to the kitchen for a glass of water. 

Both Artemis and M’gann looked at them confused, then at each other wondering if any of them understood but both shrugged it off. It was KF and Robin after all, they were always acting weird. Robin sat down in one of the chairs in the living room trying to calm himself. What just happened? All he played in his head was the image of Wally licking his lips. WTF was going on!?  
Wally was gulping down water like crazy next to the tap, Artemis looked at him like he was crazy, well crazier than usual. He smiled at her trying to act normal for a millisecond before he filled another glass. It didn’t help much, his ears felt like they were boiling. Why did he do that?! It didn’t mean anything though, Dick knew that. Right?

Miss Martian’s voice suddenly popped up in everyone heads. “Food’s ready and out of the packages, dinner’s in the livingroom!” The link then quickly went away and she started using her powers to move all off the food towards the coffee table. 

One by one, members of the team joined in around the coffee table. Kaldur had chosen the movie and pressed play when almost everyone were sitting down. Wally had to resist the urge to start laughing when he saw that he had chosen the Disney movie Atlantis. But mostly Wally was trying to avoid the inevitable. He would have to sit down with the other guys… And Dick. Wally shook his head before walking down the two steps to the living room. He had stayed in the kitchen observing as the rest of the team had taken their places. Usually Dick and Wally would sit next to each other on the couch but now Dick was in the chair to the left in the room and Wally was aiming for an empty spot on the right side of the coffee table. Both Dick and him knew nothing had happened, he chanted in his head as he walked closer. Wally took a place on the carpet around the table and started with a slice of pizza. He glanced over to Dick only to find his eyes glued on the screen. 

Dick was pressed up against the chair as if it’d make him disappear into it, trying to ignore his thoughts. He fixed his eyes on the movie, resulting in him almost dropping a piece of fried chicken as he didn’t even look at his food when he took a bite. The evening moved on and slowly all the heroes fell asleep in positions that for sure would’ve been very uncomfortable in any other situation. Well not all heroes. Dick and Wally were still awake. They slowly started putting away the leftovers in silence. During the cleaning up their eyes met a few times but to quickly dismiss each other as fast as they had noticed it. By the end of it they walked out to the Zeta tubes, both with their bags with them ready to go home.

“Hey man…” Willy turned to face Dick. He didn’t even know himself what to say.

“Uhmm… About before. It didn’t mean anything, right?” Wally asked a bit scared. He really didn’t want this to affect their friendship. “We’re fine right?” 

Dick shook his head and seemed to relax a bit. “It’s all fine. Didn’t mean a thing.” He gave a calming smile and saw as Wally’s mouth stretched out to his usual goofy smile. 

“Okay, good.” He playfully bumped the other's arm and walked closer towards the Zeta tube. “I’ll see you tomorrow then!” He called out before he disappeared. 

Dick smiled and followed KF into the Zeta tube. Both of them going to completely different places. At least now he felt calmer. But still something inside him felt… disappointed. 

\---

The next morning Dick woke up by his phone buzzing under his head. He had fallen asleep scrolling through it and apparently slept on it. The buzz was so sudden Dick panicked thinking someone had hit him. He fumbled in the sheets until his bed disappeared under him and he fell down on the floor. Once on the floor he came to his senses and sighed. Slowly he pulled off the tangled sheets from him and stood up. He checked his phone to see a message from Wally. It was a link to some funny video online. Dick smiled, this was just another sign that things were back to normal. He started going through his social medias and got dressed at the same time. Never letting his eyes off his phone he had gotten dressed and went down for breakfast. He was met by Alfred in the door opening to the dining hall. 

He cleared his throat making Dick look up at him. “Master Dick, you know we don’t use our phones whilst we're eating.”

Dick nodded letting out a small sigh as he put away his phone. He walked into the dining hall and sat down on the opposite side of the table that Bruce were sitting at.

“Morning.” He said and acknowledged that Bruce were already basically done with his breakfast. 

Bruce were reading the news paper making him a bit distracted but still managed to get out a “Good morning” for Dick. 

As they were eating in silence, as usual, Dick looked out of the massive windows and started planning the weekend. It was Saturday so maybe he and Wally could go to the arcade later on, after training. The arcade was one of their many traditions, so was their spy-smoothie spot at the mall, gaming nights and the bowling alley. They didn’t even go there to bowl, the place had a basement where they hosted roller discos some nights a week. They had even custom designed their rollerblades to match their hero identities but at the bottom of each of their shoes they had each other's names. Wally called it couture. Once Dick had finished eating he thanked Alfred for the food and went up to his room to get his things. Bruce had already left when Dick was halfway through his breakfast. Whether or not it was Bruce Wayne’s duties or Batman’s he didn’t know. He grabbed his usual green duffel bag, threw in some civilian clothes and changed into his gear. After that he said goodbye to Alfred and went down to the Batcave. 

Bruce wasn’t there and the batcomputer was in its rest mode with just a plain blue screen. Dick didn’t really care, he just wanted to go meet the team. He used the Zeta tube installed in the Batcave and next time he opened his eyes he was walking into Mount Justice. The whole team was there and geared up. Seemed like they had a mission. 

“Robin!” KF called out and was at his side the next second. “We got a really, really cool mission!” Wally excitedly told Robin. “But we have to go now so we’ll brief you on it on the ship!” 

Everyone boarded the plane and Robin didn’t seem to be the only one a bit confused. Both Raquel and Artemis also seemed to have missed the information about the mission. M’gann maneuvered the ship out of the hanger and they took off to their unknown destination.

No one said anything on the ship, the tension was still kind of there from Artemis and Zatanna’s fight. Really it was all so stupid Artemis thought but she refused to be the first one to talk. The fight had all started with Zatanna being mad at Artemis for always putting the hero thing before their relationship. She didn’t! And so what, it wasn’t like she missed anything important. Zatanna had made dinner for them be cause they had missed so many date nights recently and Artemis happened to be a little late. She didn’t get why she got so mad and blew up over it, it was nothing special. Zatanna made dinner all the time using her magic, it wasn’t of any effort for her. As Artemis looked around the bioship she accidentally met Zatanna’s eyes. She snorted and looked away. 

Zatanna frowned and mumbled. “Wow, real mature…”

Artemis eyes snapped back at her and gave her a glare. “What did you say?” 

Zatanna stood up, the straps melting away from her. “You heard me!”

Raquel was just about to slip in a comment on how they should calm down but immediately changed her mind when Artemis also stood up. She knew better than to get into that. In fact everyone did. Somehow everyone seemed to be sinking back into their seats. 

Artemis was boiling. “Oh as if you’re the one to talk about being mature! Miss you were a bit late so I’m gonna blow up and not talk to you for a week.”

“A bit late!? Artemis, you were three hours late! And you didn’t even call! The food was almost crawling away from the table when you got home!” Zatanna yelled at her, feeling her cheeks heat up as they were finally taking up their problem letting out a lot of rage. 

The rest of the team tried their best to ignore the fight but Wally accidentally got caught watching it making Artemis snapp. “What are you staring at!” 

Wally’s eyes widened as he admitted to be a bit scared of Artemis when she was that mad. He held up his hands in surrender as he slowly spun his chair around till he was no longer visible. 

“Don’t blame him, you’re the one who’s dragging this out! You never even apologized and now it’s going out over the mission!” Zatanna could feel her eyes burning but she would not let any tears pass through them. 

“Apologize for what? It was a stupid dinner! It took you what? 2 minutes to make with your bibidi babidi boo.” 

Now Zatanna looked really hurt and she couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. Slowly and silently some fell dripping down on her black dress coat. Her mouth grew into a thin line as she shook her head disappointed in the archer. “I cooked that meal for two hours, no magic. Just me. And I did that for you.” 

And so the conversation died as Zatanna sat down and turned her seat away from the rest of the group. Artemis stood silent with her mouth slightly open, processing the information. She fell back in her chair feeling emotionally exhausted and realised how she had fucked up. The team sat in utter silence through the rest of the ride. No one really dared to say anything. The mood was laying thick over everyone, even Wally was keeping quiet. Though if you listened carefully you could hear the sound of the Rubik's cube he was playing with. Everyone who knew Wally also knew he could solve a Rubik’s cube in a second but as the tension was everywhere he was keeping it slow. Also where the hell did he get that from, Raquel kept asking herself. 

After some time Aqualad turned to face the team. “Okay, I need everyone focused and ready for this. We can’t afford to mess up because of personal reasons.” He shot both Artemis and Zatanna a disapproving look of what had happened before. “Not when we’re up against these guys.”  
“But who are we up to then?” Raquel asked, tired of being in the dark. 

Aqualad took a deep breath. “Sportsmaster was spotted last night boarding a plane for Arizona, so was Cheshire, Black Spider and Hook too. We have confirmation that Sportsmaster traveled to an abandoned industrial area further out into the desert and we have received coordinates. The Justice League are busy dealing with a threat from the former injustice league that seems to have surfaced again so they have sent us. The mission is simple. We’ll go in with stealth mode and try to find out what they’re up to. Once we have estimated the threat we will move in and arrest them.” Everyone hummed in agreement. Wally smiled and rested his feet on the monitor in front of him. 

“This will be easy, we’ve taken them before so let's just do it again.”

Aqualad looked over at Artemis. “Are you gonna be okay with this?” 

Artemis didn’t seem affected at all by the information, if anything more determined. “They aren’t my family anymore.” She said whilst fixing her bow. 

Aqualad nodded and looked over the team. “Miss Martian, Robin, you two will sneak into the warehouse estimating the threat. Artemis you will be placed on a nearby building ready to cover or assist if anything goes wrong. Raquel, Superboy and I will enter the warehouse through an old sewer systems underneath the building. KF you’ll be look out from a distance, that way you’ll be able to keep lookout until we strike and then also join in and help. Zatanna you’ll be piloting the bioship in the meantime ready to take us out of there if we need to. Everyone is on standby until Miss Martian and Robin knows exactly what’s going on.” he finished as they were getting closer. 

“Is everyone ready?” he asked and everyone nodded.

“Good, Miss Martian put the ship into camouflage mode and set up the link.” 

The ship was no longer visible as they entered the old industrial area. First of they dropped of Artemis on a roof top not far from the building the League of Shadows were supposed to be in. Afterwards Zatanna let everyone out from the bioship and disappeared to circle the area from a wider distance.

Each group then split up.

KF hurried up on one of the higher buildings to get a good lookout spot. He grinned at how easy it was going to be and he couldn’t wait to see the Shadow members faces when they realized how outsmarted they had been. 

Robin moved silently next to M’gann who was almost completely invisible.  
‘What’s wrong Robin?’ she asked as he had noticed the boys odd behaviour. 

Robin sighed and jumped over an old wooden box. ‘I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about this mission. I mean don’t you think it’s weird how the league of shadows all of the sudden drops their discretion and all get spotted to conveniently be going to the exact same place? I don’t know but something doesn’t feel right about this…’ he frowned as they reached a wall to the warehouse. 

Robin found a hole a bit further down the wall where he could crawl in, as M’gann just went through the wall. They both moved further into the warehouse quietly avoiding any lights. 

‘I agree, it does seem kind of strange’ M’gann said and looked around.

From the looks of it, it was empty. After searching the building both M’gann and Robin went into the center of the room. 

‘Robin to Aqualad, the building seems to be deserted.’

‘Except from this.’ M’gann said and pointed at a small metallic object on the ground. It looked like some sort of transmitter… 

‘Shit! Everyone get ou…’ Robin started but was soon interrupted by the several bombs that went off in the building. It started in the back and made it’s way forward in the building, towards their position.

Wally panicked as he saw how pieces of the building were soaring through the sky. Something dropped inside of Wally and he suddenly found it hard to breathe. He tried to swallow the feeling but something just stopped him from it. He ran as fast as he could to the building, desperately trying to get contact with the team, with Robin.

‘Robin! M’gann! Answer, what happened!?’ 

He was soon there himself and saw how the building was tall in flames. He looked for a safe entrance all around it but everything was either filled with flames or not blown down. The glass windows high above him that were still intact were now exploding because of the heat inside. It rained down glass shards around him but Wally barely noticed. Next to him, as he was determining how hard it would be to break down the wall, he heard a small beeping and instantly threw himself to the ground holding his hands over his head. The wall exploded but when he looked up he felt how his heart could start beating again. 

It was Robin stumbling out holding up M’gann. Both teens collapsed on the dusty ground and Wally was fast by their side. They had seen better days but at least they were alive. 

‘What happened!?’ Wally looked at them with big eyes. Robin groaned as he sat up next to the speedster. 

‘It was a trap, they set us up.’ He said angrily and looked around. Then it struck him, Aqualad, Raquel and Superboy had been under the building when it exploded. 

‘Robin to Aqualad, are you okay?’ He was met with silence. M’gann’s telepathic link had been broken. The heat was getting to her. They had no choice but to use their radio. 

“Robin to Aqualad, are you okay?” he asked again. 

After a few second of silence he heard Aqualad coffing in the radio. Robin let out his breath he didn’t even know he was holding. 

“We’re okay, but our path is blocked, Superboy is working on it. We’re pulling out now. That goes for everyone.” 

Wally nodded to himself. They weren’t going to get much more out of this mission. 

“Try to contact Artemis with the radio.” Robin ordered and Wally who knew better than to argue in a situation like this. 

“Artemis… Artemis are you there?” Wally started but he didn’t get any reply. Worry started growing inside. “She’s not answering.” he said and he turned to Robin… Who was no longer there. “Robin for fucks sake! This is not a good time for you to pull one of your ninja stunts!” He yelled out into the industrial area but got no reply. 

Wally took a deep breath focusing on what had to be done trying to forget how much the boy could tick him off. He picked up M’gann and started running to the rendevouz spot. It was a higher point of the desert where you could see the whole industrial area from above, the bioship was already there, Raquel ready to take over with M’gann. Once he had left her there in safety he started running to the building they had dropped Artemis on. The building was an old parking garage, probably for all the employees that once worked there. It was huge with several stories.

Once Wally had made it up all the stairs even he felt a bit tired. He grabbed one of his tasteless energy bars and quickly devoured it. He looked around the roof to find Artemis laying at the edge of it. Unknow to why, she seemed unconscious. Wally ran up to her side and checked her pulse. She seemed fine, but why was she out of it? The explosion didn’t reach this building…

“Aqualad to Kid Flash. Why isn't Robin answering his radio?” 

Wally gritted his teeth trying to stay calm. “Boy Blunder seems to have gone rogue and ditched me…” he muttered as he picked up Artemis. 

“Okay, well Superboy managed to break through the blockage and we’re heading to the rendezvous point. 

“Gotcha, I got Artemis. We’re heading out now.”

Wally started running again. The stairs were a pain with the sharp turns. He almost tripped several times but made it out and to the bioship right before the others arrived. Everyone seemed to be okay but now they just had to get in touch with Robin. 

“Everyone get in position, as soon as we get a hold of Robin we’re leaving.” Aqualad ordered everyone. 

Wally sat down against his will and muttered something about Robin, no one except him really understood be cause it went too fast. After about ten minutes of waiting and Aqualad becoming more impatient by the second the communication system sparked. 

“Robin here. It seems like it’s not as deserted here as we thought.” he reported and waited for answer. 

Everyone in the bioship looked at each other surprised but Aqualad was the one in charge and answered. “What do you mean?” He asked and not soon after everyone lifted their heads towards the window of the bioship. 

Down in the industrial area there was a shooting going on aiming at something moving between the buildings. 

Wally was quick to his feet. “I think that’s what he meant.” He said before he rushed out of the bioship, too fast to hear Aqualad shout at him. 

That dumb idiot he called his best friend had attracted some attention. Wally rushed down and stood behind a building to figure out the situation. He leaned out to see several… Well at first it looked like humans but their eyes were glowing bright green and they were firing, not bullets, but some green force out of their palms. In the middle of the hordes of creatures Wally spotted Cheshire. 

Robin was crouched behind a building still being shot at. He knew he couldn’t run out there without becoming pulp by their fire so he had to come up with something else. He throw out a smoke bomb to cover him and quickly ran over to another building. A yellow blur stopped in front of him and and became the recognizable face of his best friend. 

“Oh, hey Wally.” He said and peered out from their hiding spot.

“Dude! You can’t just ditch us like that!” Wally said, tired of Dick’s disappearances. 

Robin frowned as he saw Cheshire coming closer by the second. Not long after the unknown creatures were following. 

“Not now Wally.” Robin said and pulled the speedster with him into the building they were taking cover next to. 

“Robin to Aqualad, requesting backup. We need you to pull the attention from us.” the other end was dead silent and Robin threw the earpiece across the floor in annoyance and frowned. 

“Try to barricade the door, I have a plan but I need some time.” Robin said and started working on his small monitor attached to his glove. 

Wally made an unamused face as he started piling boxes over the door. “I’m guessing you’re not gonna let me in on it.” He said and glared a bit at Robin as he continued with his task. 

Robin being deep in his work only gave a short answer. “No time.” 

Then the door behind the boxes exploded making the material in front of it scatter around the room. Wally got ready to fight but Robin instantly grabbed a hold of him and started running further into the complex. 

“I don’t understand Rob, why don’t we just fight them off?”

Robin moved in silence until they were both crouching behind an old crane.  
“When I disappeared on my own I found both Cheshire and Sportsmaster in another building here. Somehow they had set this up. It was all a trap, an attempt to get rid of us. I got into the building and saw how there was a drop off of a case between Sportsmaster and Cheshire. Cheshire got the case and when I scanned it, it contained a USB. I figured it was something important so I used my grappling hook to swing down and steal the case, hence why they’re chasing us. I got out the USB and I’m now downloading the information. It seems to be about these creatures that are also after us. I didn’t see them when I took the case so I didn’t think it’d get this big.” 

As Robin finished KF nodded in silence. He was a dumbass who went on dangerous missions by himself without thinking about the rest of the teams worry, or KF’s worry even but Wally would give him one thing. He was a heck of hero. 

“So is it finished downloading?” He asked and gestured to Robins glove. 

“No I need three more minutes.” Robin answered right before a grenade like container were thrown at them. Wally noticed first and picked Robin up, rushing away from it. Not soon enough to avoid the blast though. Wally could hear a ringing in his ears, he shook his head trying to get up and saw Robin was doing the same. 

“Three minutes? I’ll give you four.” Wally gave him his normal goofy smile before taking off. 

Robin couldn’t help but laugh at the other, he could be pretty amazing sometimes. He ignored the thoughts of Wally and hurried to a safer position, monitoring the dowload. 

Wally ran in a zigzag pattern between crates containing various substances before he spotted Cheshire. He smirked and prepared to completely knock the villain who was standing casually at the door opening. Why wasn’t she moving? Wally was just about to crash into her with all his power when something from his left completely smashed him away, throwing him into the wall on the other side of Cheshire. Wally felt dizzy and stumbled getting up from the wrecked wooden box he had landed on. Next to Cheshire stood one of the human like creatures, but it was very clear it wasn’t human. 

“What’s wrong Cheshire, scared you’ll get your hands dirty?” Wally teased and wiped some blood from his lip that had gotten chapped. 

It seemed to provoke the one who attacked him and he braced himself for impact as the creature held up its arm to shoot. Wally couldn’t run anywhere, he was cornered. He closed his eyes hoping he would be able to shake it off once it was over. But the blast never hit him. Cheshire had stopped it holding an arm out. 

“I’ll take care of this one. Standby mode 024.” She commanded and the creature stepped back. 

She brought out her sais from behind her back and Wally could basically feel her evil grin behind the mask. “You know, you were always my least favorite.” She said before she charged forward attempting to cut Wally with her poisonous blades. 

It became like a ridiculous dance of Wally avoiding the blades and Cheshire trying to hit him, getting more and more aggravated. Wally used his speed to get in a kick and to tear down some crates on her. But Cheshire was smart and anticipated the next punch Wally attempted. She grabbed his arm and threw him into the concrete wall. Wally groaned and was about to get up but Cheshire was already there pinning him down holding a Blade to his throat. 

“So much for fastest kid alive...” 

Cheshire’s blade was thrown out of her hand and slid over the floor. Both her and Wally looked to where it had come from and saw Robin standing with several batarangs in his hand giving Cheshire a smirk. 

“Sorry to be a party pooper but he’s coming with me.” Robin started throwing the blades at her and she had to jump away from Wally to dodge it. 

Wally took the opportunity and quickly appeared by Robin’s side. “You got the info?” Wally asked and was about ready to get the hell out of there. 

“No but I figured if we can’t get it, why let them?” Next up Robin didn’t throw a blade at Cheshire but the USB, in two pieces. 

While he was at it, he threw a bomb creating a hole in the wall on the other side of the building. “Time to go.”

Wally feeling a bit disappointed as it all had been in vain still put on a smirk for Cheshire. “Sorry babe, gonna have to take a raincheck on this.” 

He picked up Robin and started running away from the scene. Cheshire who never showed much emotion was now yelling in fury. “Shoot them! Shoot them now!” 

By the time they had started shooting at the two boys they were already out of range. When they got up to the rendezvous spot the ship was gone but there was a load of the human like creatures there who also started shooting at them. Wally quickly changed direction and started running towards the desert in the middle of nowhere. The bioship appeared further out in the desert and they hurried to the location. There were two ropes lowered down ready for them when they go there and they quickly got pulled up into the ship.  
Artemis was controlling the ship and started taking them out of there. Aqualad was in front of them with look that would kill them if it could. 

“What were you thinking!?” He said angrily at Robin and even though Wally wanted to be mad at Robin too, he had tried to get some vital information and it pissed Wally off when Aqualad attacked just Robin. 

“At least he tried to get some information, maybe it didn’t work out but where the hell were you when we asked for backup!? You criticize him for going off on his own but you guys sure as hell didn’t show up when we asked for it!” Wally said just as mad as Aqualad now. 

Aqualad seemed surprised by the accusation. “We didn’t get any call for help.” 

Raquel swore that she saw lightning bolts between the two boys glaring at each other. While they had taken out some rage on each other Robin had sat down in his seat and hooked up his glove to the bioship. 

“Who said it didn’t work out?” he smiled a devilish smile. 

“What?” Wally looked over at him. Now he was even more confused. 

“What is going on!?” Aqualad turned around with a confused look on his face so he could face Robin. 

Robin looked at M’gann who was being treated by conner. Still unconscious.  
“Is she okay?” he asked and got a silent nod from conner before he went back to holding an eye on M’gann. 

Robin turned to the other who were eagerly waiting. He started explaining everything about how he had stolen the USB and started downloading it. Then when his story caught up to where he had told Wally it hadn’t worked he turned to Wally. “I told you it hadn’t worked because I knew Cheshire was listening. Now they think we don’t have the information and they need to schedule another drop of for their information.” 

He didn’t like to lie to Wally but it had been vital for his plan. He turned back to the rest of the team, a bit worried Wally might be pissed. 

“Now the bigger question is, where was the USB going? They seem to be sharing their new project with someone, but who?” 

Everyone stood silent thinking of who it might be until one specific speedster couldn’t be quiet anymore. “I sure don’t know who it is, but dude this is sweet!” he grinned and looked at Robin. “Great job Rob!” That specific smile, that ridiculous grin. It always made Robin’s heart skip a beat. Usually he could conceal it but for some reason now he felt his face heat up. Before anyone else could see he turned around in his chair and laughed. 

“Thanks Wally.” 

As they got back to Mount Justice Robin disappeared into his room, immediately starting to read up on the information from the flash drive. The rest of the team went of to the showers and to rest. Wally’s gaze lingered on Dick’s back as he disappeared down the hallway. The team hadn’t succeeded when it came to the initial mission but what they recovered from it almost seemed way better. It might be their chance to take down the league of shadows once and for all. So that night they all celebrated with M’gann’s great cooking and a cozy movie. No one really had the energy for anything else. Artemis and Zatanna disappeared in the process of washing off and getting ready for dinner, the rest of the team hoped they’d work things out. Otherwise everyone seemed to have a nice time, except from Robin. He wasn’t there. He hadn’t left his room since they got back. After a while Wally started to wonder if Dick had left Mount Justice and forgotten to tell the rest. 

“Guys, I’m gonna go check on Robin.” Wally said as he walked out of the living room. 

He got some hums back acknowledging they had heard him but most of them were deep into the movie they were watching. Wally walked down the hall of different dorms till he reached Robin’s. His room was in the middle of the corridor which was a bit strange since he almost never used it in contrast to Superboy and M’gann who lived there. Wally leaned on the wall and carefully knocked on the door and waited a bit. When he didn’t get an answer he figured Dick probably went home to Gotham but he still wanted to check. Wally was the only person who knew the code to Dick’s room except from Dick. He pushed the panel of numbers in the right order, heard a quiet beep and the metal doors slid open. Wally was surprised to find Dick still there but he was asleep on his desk next to his laptop. He was still in full gear except from his mask. It was laying next to him on the desk. Wally rolled his eyes at the boy and stepped in. He had inhabited some not so good habits from the Dark Knight, like not taking a break when he deserved one. Slowly he closed the laptop screen not to wake the other and then he carefully lifted up the boy and carried him to his bed. He scooted away his duvet and placed him down carefully. Dick was knocked out and probably wouldn’t wake up even if Wally dropped him. Even though Wally could figure that out himself he wouldn’t use any but the gentlest of touch. He slowly pulled off the others boots, carefully one by one he placed them besides the bed. He laid the covers over him and was about to leave when he froze at the words. Well more like slurs, but still. Dick had turned in his bed probably still half asleep but he let out a mumble. 

“Thanks Wally.”

Wally felt his mouth curve upwards as his face also got warm but he didn’t even care. “Goodnight Dickhead.” He joked and turned off the light before leaving Boy Wonder to his dreams.


	2. Project: Tivoli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is going to the tivoli!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This writer is awful at posting but here is the second chapter, like half a year later.  
> I should really just write one shots.

There was a blur speeding down the stairs and was just about to push through the door when a woman got in the way. The blur’s mom. Wally tried to stop in time but couldn’t so his solution was to crash into the wall next to her, better than to hit her at least. He fell on his butt and soon after the family portrait that had hung on the wall came flying down. He threw himself forward and luckily he was able to catch it. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Mary West asked with her arms crossed as she stood in front of their doorway. 

Wally sighed and got up. “Mom!” He dragged out the O and groaned. “I’m going to meet with the team, and I’m already late.” 

“Then a minute more won’t hurt.” She said and gave Wally the most grown up look ever. 

Wally reluctantly forced himself to stand still and listen to his mother. But his foot was impatiently tapping against the floor, going over the normal speed creating an annoying sound. But the West family had gotten used to it by now. 

“Have you taken out the trash?” 

“Yes” 

“Cleaned your room?”

 

“Yes”

“Done your homework?”

“Yes mom! Please can I go?” Wally pleaded. 

Mary gave him a doubtful look but turned it into a smile before she stepped aside. “Okay, have fu…” She didn’t get to finish as the speedster was long gone making his way to the nearest zeta tube. Today the team would go over the information Robin had obtained. 

Arriving at Mount Justice, Wally ran up to the team. “Hi guys!” 

“You’re late.” Kaldur said a bit annoyed. He was eager to get going and learn of this new threat. 

“Sorry, mom problems.” He said and gave him a guilty look. 

Everyone on the team was already looking at Robin who were preparing the computer so he could inform the rest of the group of what he had learnt during his cramming session last night. Once he was done and saw Wally there he gave him a big smile before directing his attention back to the screen. 

“Okay, so we’ve obtained a lot of information about the League of Shadows new weapon. It’s called Project Gorgon.”

“Wait, Gorgon? Like the Greek myth, like Medusa?” Raquel interrupted. 

“Exactly.” Robin brought up a hologram of the creatures they had seen before. “I didn’t notice it first but thinking back I remember that all of the ‘Gorgons’ were appearing to be female. Just like in Greek mythology.” He paused and brought up a video of one of them. It was demonstrating its skills in a form of lab environment. “It’s a weapon, a… robotic mix between flesh and metal. But it isn’t human flesh, it seems almost like they created it just for this. My guess is that somehow they’ve involved some dark forces in this. It doesn’t really matter right now, what does matter is that this is a weapon of mass destruction. It’s been created to infiltrate places as civilians and then being able to strike. No one would see it coming.” Robin looked out over the group. It was bad and everyone knew it. What might had been whispers between friends had now disappeared into silent seriousness. It was really nothing to joke about. 

“These weapons have the power to start a third world war if they want to.” Robin felt the responsibility heavy on his shoulders. They had to take care of this threat, or else god knows what could happen. 

“What can they do?” Kaldur asked and pointed to the hologram of one. 

Robin brought up a closer look of it. “As we all know they can shoot a green force through their palms. I don’t know what it is. I’ve run a search for a match to what the USB says it contains but it came up empty. A lot of this is knew to us. They possess inhuman strength and can self destruct, creating explosions. Not big but big enough…” Robin sighed. “And this is where it gets tricky. The USB only contains half of the project information. Any plans or other information would be on a second stick.” 

“You mean we only have half of their damn project.” Superboy said and the team could see he was obviously growing more and more angry about it all. 

“It means we know more of what we're up against than what we did before, and I’m sure we will get the opportunity to get the rest of the information.” M’gann had gotten closer to Conner and laid a hand on his arm trying to calm him. “Right Robin?” She gave him a pleading look. 

“Yes. I already have all systems on high alert and looking out for any signs of a second drop off. It will most likely go down like it did in Arizona.” Robin looked out over the rest of the team. “So for now, all we can do is sit tight and wait for any further information.” 

“Sweet! That means we can go to the carnival today!” Wally said happily and looked at his teammates. Not very tasteful considering they were up against a weapon that could potentially destroy cities and kill millions but the team was used to it. And they kind of needed Wally’s brightness. At least Dick did, Wally somehow was the sunshine in his cloudy sky. 

“I don’t know Wally, shouldn’t we stay close to the computer for updates?” Zatanna asked. She was standing next to Artemis and from the looks of it, they seemed to have dealt with their problems. Infact Artemis was standing so close to Zatanna that their arms were touching. 

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Robin stepped into the conversation with a smile. “I got the computer synced with my phone. Any information that shows up here, will also show up in my back pocket.” Dick really wanted to go to the carnival with the team since his plans from before about going to the arcade with Wally had gotten toasted. Or more like, blown up. 

“Yes!” Wally grinned and clenched his fist in victory. “Then let's go” Wally started running to the exit. 

They weren’t taking the Zeta tube or the Bioship. For today, they’d just be normal teenagers going to the carnival to have fun. There was nothing Dick wanted more than that. To be able to spend a normal day with his best friend. He smiled and hurried after Wally. The other team mates followed and they all exited the mountain to head to the bus station. 

On the bus Wally was sitting next to Dick as usual and they were talking about the latest Intergalactic Monsters game that had been released. Both very eager to get it. Artemis who was sitting behind couldn’t help but smile at them. Both so blinded from their feelings. She hadn’t talked to anyone else on the team about it, not even Zatanna. But she saw what was there. And it was perfect, they were perfect for eachother. Sure they fought sometimes and had disagreements but the perfection laid in the imperfections. Robin would go follow up on dangerous leads by himself, in the beginning it was almost at every mission. Now it was less common. Wally would give him a handful about it every time it happened and because of that Robin tried harder not to go off on his own. In the beginning Wally would also sometimes come of as really inappropriate and cheap when you met him but since he started being more with Rob he seemed to have straightened up, the flirting had even started to go away. Of course that also had to do with the fact that they were head over heels for each other. They might not know understand it themself but Artemis saw it. She only wished those doofuses would see it too. 

“So if we get it this wednesday it shouldn’t be sold out and we can start playing on friday!”

“Sounds great.” Dick responded with a smile. It was hard not to when he saw Wally that exited. 

Last night Dick had woken up to go to the bathroom. When he was halfway there he had remembered that he never properly went to bed. That was when his brain had started working again and he had realized Wally must have gotten him into bed. He was the only one with the code. Slowly some vague memories came through and he remembered saying goodnight to Wally. The whole thing had made Dick all warm inside. The rest of the night he had spent turning and throwing the covers off and on. Wally had haunted his mind and he couldn’t let it go. Still the thoughts were stuck in his head even on the bus with Wally. But something had changed from last night. He now knew something was wrong between them. After all the tossing and turning he had realized that something was wrong, out of the ordinary. He liked Wally, that hadn’t changed. But they were acting different around each other these days. It stung when he had figured it out. And it still did, deep down. Somehow he was scared that they wouldn’t be normal again. It had become harder to be around him. Wally sometimes seemed to avoid his eyes and they got into really weird situation more and more often. Like the other day in the living room. Dick didn’t know what to do. Was he doing something different or wrong?

“Did you know that they said they took inspiration for one of the hero character from Flash? Why take inspo from an old man when they could’ve gotten this.” Wally pointed to himself and flexed his bicep, earning him a laugh from Dick. 

Dick smiled at his friend, he knew Wally had noticed him being lost in his thought. Every now and then he did and then he’d pull some stupid joke to get him back to reality and it’d reassure him that thing were okay. Maybe it was okay. Even though it felt weird with Wally sometimes and even though things seemed to be changing. For better or for worse, in that moment Dick was just happy to be spending time next to Wally. Wally was so enchanting, Dick couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. During the whole conversation about robots and monsters in space, Dick couldn’t not look into Wally’s eyes. Wally didn’t notice though so it was fine. He himself was so distracted by the talk of the new game that he never noticed all the attention the raven haired boy gave him. 

Once everyone were off the bus and had gotten their tickets for the carnival, they automatically parted and went in different directions. Wally and Dick stood still looking around, scanning the surrounding. That was until Wally started pulling Dick with him towards one of the stands where you could win a prize if you could throw some hoops around glass bottles. The whole places was filled with people and an orange/yellow light was set above them. It was a very cosy environment and Wally could see several couples walking around holding hands. He and Dick held hands every so often but usually when they were running from something. But what was really the difference? Wally’s hand went from janking Dick’s arm to pulling him along, holding his hand. Dick immediately noticed but didn’t mind. He felt his face becoming warm and he pretended to look around the area so Wally wouldn’t see his face. Once they were at the game Wally stopped and admired the different prices you could get. There was a huge orange dragon as first prize, it had ridiculously big cartoon eyes and ginger hair going in every direction. Dick noticed it and couldn’t help but think it looked like Wally. 

“I’m gonna try and get it.” Wally smiled at Dick and handed the man in charge of the game some money. The man bent down under the desk and got out five rings. They were bright blue and yellow. 

Wally got his game face on and aimed really thoroughly but in the end he just got four out of ten. He didn’t win anything but smiled anyway. 

Dick shook his head. “Well that won’t do.” 

He handed the man some more money and got some yellow and red rings. Dick narrowed his eyes on the bottles and started throwing. 

\-----

“Wow I can’t believe you got all rings on one bottle, and the one furthest away too!” Wally walked next to Robin, holding his hand with his own left hand. The other arm he used to be able to hold the dragon. It was as big as his torso. 

“Well they don’t call me boy wonder for nothing.” He smirked and couldn’t be happier. The area was full of laughter and happiness and there was activites and fun games wherever they looked. They stopped for some corndogs and then started heading towards the ferris wheel. Surprisingly it had been Dick’s idea but Wally was happily coming along. Just the thought of it just being him and Dick getting some time for each other was enough. They paid the woman controlling the giant wheel and she opened the door to the carriage for them. Dick stepped in first as Wally was finding a place for the stuffed animal. He ended up leaving it next to the controls after forcing the poor woman to say she’d look after it. He jumped into the carriage with his usual smile and closed the door. The ride started moving and after a while they were up in the air. Wally leaned close to the bars looking out and grinning. 

“This is so cool dude.” 

“Yeah” Dick smiled at him and leaned back, taking off his glasses.

Their shoulders were brushing against each other and so were their feet on the floor of the carriage. Wally leaned back more and looked over at Dick. Their faces were close together but he didn’t care. It was too perfect to change anything. Wally was suddenly rushed over by a feeling like he should say something or do something. His head had been so confused the last weeks so maybe this was his chance of talking about it with Dick. He liked Dick but he didn’t know what was wrong. Why did it feel like he wasn’t doing enough? The air got a bit colder as they felt the wind enter their little bubble. Wally lessened the space between them without thinking and now their hands were laying right next to each other. 

Suddenly Dick grabbed Wally’s hand and smiled. “Are you cold?” 

Wally wasn’t the least bit cold, he was more closer to overheating but he’d never say that. “A bit.” He chuckled and looked down at their hands, any excuse was good enough. 

“Wally…” 

Wally looked up at Dick and saw how he had leaned forward, even closer to his face now. 

“Y-yeah.” Wally managed to get out but he couldn’t focus, his head was having a nervous breakdown. 

“Something… I don’t know but something seems different lately.” Dick said and looked out over the field below them. Families, kids, couples… they were all down there living their happy lives. Dick was jealous, it seemed so easy for them. 

“I know.” Wally answered. 

“I’m scared Wally.” Dick said, forcing Wally to not drop his jaw. Dick Grayson, Robin, Boy Wonder just told him he was scared. 

“I’m scared things won’t go back.” Dick looked over at Wally, he looked genuinely concerned. “A-are we never going to be okay again?” 

Those words made Wally’s heart ache. He couldn’t stand it. The fear he knew too well himself. He knew how awful it was. He never knew Dick felt that though, if he had known. Would it have been easier? He was so tired of it being so complicated. So he did the simplest of things he knew. He wrapped his arms around Dick and held onto him as if he’d fall if he didn’t. His eyes were closed but as he held the other he burrowed his face in Dick’s hoodie. It smelled like home, safety. 

“We are. Just… Just don’t think anything else please.” He said in a voice that made Dick wrap his arms hard around the other. 

“Okay.” 

They parted, just a few inches and they could feel each other's warm breath against their skin. Their eyes burrowing into eachothers, foreheads touching. Memories from the other night flashed by, the closeness, the heat from the others body. Dick’s heart was pounding faster but he didn’t bother to notice. All there were was Wally, right in front of him, so close and yet it didn’t feel close enough. He felt Wally’s hand in his hair and how his breath got caught in his chest. The distant grew smaller and Dick felt their noses touch but they still got closer….

“Sorry boys, smooching will have to be continued elsewhere.” 

The ride had stopped and neither of them had noticed. Both of them flew back to the opposite sides of the carriage and started breathing heavily, taking in the surrounding that had been invisible to both of them. People were lining up outside the attraction to get to try it and some were looking at Dick and Wally with weird faces. The lady operating the machinery had burst their bubble and Wally was stumbling out, trying his best to act cool. She was holding up the orange dragon and handed it to him.

“We weren’t…” Wally fumbled with his hands trying to point towards the carriage. “you know.” 

“Sure.” The lady gave him smile but she honestly looked like she couldn’t care less. 

Dick got out and they both went down the metallic steps from the platform and down on the green grass. They both laughed a bit nervously and looked around, avoiding some looks from the people in line. 

“Wall…” 

“So!” Wally interrupted and cleared his throat. “Cotton candy?” 

Dick laughed at his friend but nodded, his attempt to lighten the mood was working even though it was obvious. They walked to the outer part of the area and Dick sat down on one of the benches as Wally disappeared into the crowd to search for the sugary sweet. Dick watched as people were passing by and leaned on the orange dragon next to him. Maybe things didn’t have to be so hard after all? Everything had seemed fine up in the ferris wheel. It had been like all the problems of the outer world had disappeared and it was just the two of them left. Dick didn’t like how vulnerable he became around Wally. In the beginning, when they had first met Dick had tried to push Wally away. It had all been in vain of course, Wally found his way into Dick’s life and set up camp. Or more like built a house. Ready for anything, he would not budge. Dick thought he was strong but in the end he wasn’t strong enough to resist Wally. Maybe he should just stop fighting and embrace the fact that Wally meant everything for him. It was becoming harder to stop it and hide it. He kept losing his inner battles against it but maybe it was okay to lose now. He would be okay with going down like that, by Wally. Wally was after all everything to him. 

After about half an hour Dick started to wonder if Wally had gotten lost or stuck somewhere. The line to the cotton candy couldn’t have been more than half an hour long. Dick got up from the bench, holding the dragon in one hand and walked towards the food area. Once he had asked another vendor about it and gotten direction he finally found it. But there were basically no line at all. Dick got a bit worried and started looking around the different stands for the redhead. He went behind some small red houses and felt how his heart dropped. Next to one of the red food trucks was Wally standing against the wall. And in front of him was a blonde girl. She was running her hands over Wally’s chest and giggling. Wally gave her a smile and the cotton candy he was holding. Dick felt how his entire body got heavy and he bit his lip to focus the pain somewhere else. Why was he even surprised? It was Wally after all. Then the redhead looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of his friend. He pushed the girl off of him and jogged up to Dick. 

 

“Hey, I thought you were going to wait at the bench?” Wally asked and stopped in front of him. 

Dick clenched his jaw. “I thought you might have gotten lost since it took so long. But I was clearly wrong.” He had to force the words out, in reality he was more sad than angry but he’d never show that. 

“Oh… Dick this isn’t wh…”

“You know what Wally, usually I’m fine with your dumb flirting and clinging to girls but this... This was low, even for you.” Dick dropped the dragon on the ground and started walking. He heard Wally yelling after him but he was already disappearing in the noise of the crowd. 

How dumb had he been thinking Wally would take some time to just be with him? Dick felt so stupid but something was aching inside. He stopped when he got out of the tivoli and looked up at the sky, trying to breathe. It felt like his breath was made of glue that had to be forced out and in. Wally was never going to change, he was a flirtatious teenage boy who was crazy about girls. How Dick even though he could change made him mad enough to kick the trashcan next to him. It fell down and rolled away from him. Dick heard how the man selling ticked yelled at him and Dick took of running down the street. He wasn’t even sure where he was going. Anywhere else but that damn carnival was good enough. He fucking hated feelings, when did he let them take such control over him. It was so dumb! He felt his phone buzz in his back pocket and if it had been any other time he’d ignore it but he had to keep an eye on it so it wasn’t about the drop off. He hated Robin sometimes. He hated that the world wasn’t as simple when he was Dick as it was when he was Robin. He grabbed his phone and checked the notification. Nothing from the computer at Mount Justice luckily, he didn’t want to see the team. But he had gotten a text from Wally. 

‘Where are you???’

Another one quickly popped up. 

‘Please answer’

Dick sighed and typed in something quickly before shutting his phone off. 

‘Going on patrol, phone will be off.’ 

He hadn’t brought his Robin suit in blind faith that the evening would be calm. He regretted that decision, all he wanted was to disappear as Robin and take out some of his feelings on some criminals. He walked down the road to an abandoned playground where he sat down on one of the swings. He ran his hands through his hair, taking a deep breath. Then he remembered he had forgotten to put his sunglasses on again. His hands quickly went to his pocket and grabbed them, putting them on instantly. Dick felt how he got mad at Wally for it but he knew it was his own fault. He let down his guard around Wally and forgot about the rest of the world. He couldn’t do that anymore. If they had ran into the rest of the team at the carnival they would have all seen him without his glasses. 

“Fuck” he exhaled and put his head in his hands. The night was officially ruined. 

\---

 

Wally was running around the area desperately trying to find his friends so he could explain. It hadn’t been what Robin thought. 

Wally had gone to get the cotton candy but on the way back he’d been stopped by the blonde girl Dick had seen with him. She had asked for directions to one of the rides, she didn’t know english very well so it had taken some time to explain to her that wally did not work there. In the end he had given her the cotton candy in an attempt to get out of there and she had thanked him by putting his hand on his shoulder. 

“Damn it Dick, why do you have to be so.. So…” he didn’t know what to say, cause he couldn’t blame him. Wally knew himself that if he’d seen Dick with a girl he’d been furious. 

Which made no sense at all cause why would it infuriate him, they were just close friends, he thought. 

After having scanned the tivoli ground three times Wally gave up, realising Dick had left and if the boy wonder didn’t want to be found, no one would be able to find him. 

Wally headed home and ignored his parents call from the living room as he zoomed up stairs to his room. He collapsed on to his bed and screamed in frustration in to his pillow. 

“What am I supposed to do now?”


	3. Project: simulated fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In lack of any new leads the team decides to spend their day training and Artemis makes sure that Wally and Dick won’t be able to avoid each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is short but I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be the finale so I’ll make sure to work hard on that one.

Entering Mount Justice the day after, Wally couldn’t help but feel uninvited. Mount Justice wasn’t Robin’s home, that was Wayne manor, but still… Wally felt like he was walking into enemy territory, tip toeing as he feared that a raven would fly down and pick his eyes out at any time. But to his surprise when he entered the great hall Robin just waved at him. No ill will, no hatred and hopefully no boobytraps. Just Dick giving him what seemed to be a generic wave before returning to the screen he was working at. The rest of the group hadn’t arrived yet because Wally had made sure he’d been early so in the event of Dick going nuclear on him, at least the rest of the team wouldn’t be there to make popcorn.

“Hey Dick…” Wally greeted the boy, with a feeling of unease as he walked slowly toward his friend; who was acting scary calm. 

“Hey Wally.? You’re early today.” Robin responded in an even weirder cold tone. He didn’t seem mad or sad… Just cold, emotionless. Almost like… Batman. 

“Uhhh- Yeah… How are you doing?” Wally moved around the boy as he watched him work at the computer. He seemed fine, no injuries to the head or traps laying around.

In all honesty Wally had been prepared for Dick to launch a rocket at him, not act like a stone. Somehow the later option, it hurt more. 

“I’m fine”, the boy declared and continued pressing buttons, moving the screen around to make room for holographic maps and drawings of machines. They boy looked icy, radiating a coldness, not inviting anyone and not the Robin that Wally knew. 

“So… You’re not mad?”, Wally asked, feeling like he was resting on a ticking time bomb. But that wasn’t the case, Dick wan’t ticking, he was barely breathing. 

“No”, he answered blankly as the zeta-tube’s familiar voice echoed throught the halls of Mount Justice and several of the members could be heard heading towards the hall. Wally moved in closer to Dick so he could finish their conversation without getting interrupted. 

“Are you sure? You seemed like you were yesterday”, Wally asked a bit worried as he looked over his shoulder and saw how Kaldur and several other had walked through the doors.

“Why would I be?”, Dick asked and moved past Wally to get to another screen. 

Wally chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his side. “Yeah, right...”, he smiled slightly, but with no joy in his expression. 

“Robin, Kid Flash, how’s it going?”, Kaldur asked as he stepped up closer to the boys; oblivious to their previous conversation.

“Can’t say we got much more than yesterday…”, Robin answered with a sigh and fell down in the chair behind him. 

“Nothing new has surfaced and without any new intel, we’re pretty much going off of nothing.”

Wally watched Dick act so naturally, but it didn’t feel natural at all. Why wasn’t he mad? He had every right to be. Wally had come of as an asshole yesterday - even though it was a misunderstanding - Dick couldn’t possible know what actually happened so why was he so okay with everything? 

It suddenly struck Wally that what made no sense would’ve been if Dick had been upset. There had been no reason to be. 

They’d just been hanging out like normal friends, best friends. And guys usually cheer each other on when it comes to girls, right? So maybe it was normal. But if it was normal, why did Wally suddenly feel like he was carrying a 10 pound stone on his chest. 

“Wally?”, he snapped out of his thoughts and realized Robin was staring at him and so was the rest of the team. He instantly felt his cheeks go warm and looked away from Robin, over at the team instead. Best friends don’t stare at each other like that, he thought. 

“W-what?”, he asked as he didn’t understand why everyone were looking at him. 

“We were heading to the training center so we won’t waste this day by just sitting around”, Robin clarified and got up from his chair as he started walking away, the team following. 

“Geez Wally you seem even more distracted than normally”, Artemis dragged him along but slightly behind the rest of the group, just out of hearing distance. 

“You okay?”, she asked quirking her eyebrow at him. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”, Wally responded swiftly and hurried his steps so they caught up to the others, making sure that Artemis wouldn’t be able to interrogate him on the subject.

\---

“Let’s work the holo-course in pairs!”, Artemis suggested before Robin could ask for individual training. She was sure he’d be happy by himself all day as she too had notice his weirdly cold behaviour around Wally that morning. She wasn’t going to let them stay apart and silently brood all day, she figured it’d be better if they got to vent it out on eachother at least. 

“I’ll go with Zatanna, then Kaldur and Conner and then KF and Robin and so on! Let’s go!” Before anyone could object Artemis had already pressed a button that made the floor rumble. Four walls rose from the floor creating a small control room in the corner of the hall. All the members agreed to her proposal and willingly stepped into the small control room. There were chairs for everyone to sit in, a huge screen, a window showing the actual hall and a complicated control system. 

The screen turned on and Artemis started pressing buttons.

“What environment will you choose?” M’gann asked curios as she sat down, crossing her legs. This specific exercise did frighten her somewhat but she knew it was effective to prepare for real life events.

The training program worked as such that you choose a natural environment that will be simulated in the great training hall. 

For example if you were to choose a tropical jungle; objects resembling trees, rocks, vines and even animals would rise from the floor, walls and roof to come into the hall, creating similar shapes as the object that’d be typical for the jungle. The participants would wear a pair of contacts that would create a more real experience such as objects, colors and illusions. Speakers in the hall would also create jungle like sound effects and mind tricks. It was all to prepare for real life and to be able to face your biggest fears and struggles in a safe environment. 

“Let’s do dessert”, Zatanna suggested and Artemis nodded. She pressed a couple of buttons and you could hear the hall changing outside the control room. They both grabbed a pair of contacts from on of the drawers and stepped on to a platform in the center of the room. Grabbing on to each other’s hands they were lowered into the ground to later emerge somewhere in the hall, ready to face their fears and struggles together. The contacts they’d be wearing could not only create illusion but also read heart rate and determine different fears from the owner of them, it wasn’t an easy task to get through and it could easily take hours to finish. 

Wally got comfortable in his seat and glanced over at Dick. He was watching the monitor that was showing the environment outside of the control room as Artemis and Zatanna perceived it. In other words a burning dry desert whit miles to the nearest sign of civilisation. From the looks of it they had to work together to survive a sandstorm and the dangers within it. 

\---

It took Artemis and Zatanna an hour and a half to finish, Kaldur and Conner two hours and then it was Wally’s and Dick’s turn. It was time for lunch and the other’s left for a break, however Dick seemed to have no intention of leaving.

Wally got up feeling awkward as he picked up contacts for them both and Dick choose the environment. 

 

“What’d you choose?” he asked and handed the shorter boy the contacts. 

“Jungle” he replied as he put in the contact lenses and they both stepped on to the platform. Wally hated this part, you never knew where the platform would drop you off and you’d have to try and navigate yourself from the very beginning. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he opened them to a brightly colored forest with birds chirping all around them. 

“Wow” he sighed, always as amazed to how realistic it seemed. 

“We need to move so we can finish this.” Robin said and started walking. 

“Wait hold up, shouldn’t we try and figure out what we’re up against. The jungle will pit us against our fears, so like… What are you afraid of right now?”, Wally asked, barely believing that he was the one making up the plan. Robin almost seemed distracted; reckless. As if they had switched roles. 

“I don’t know, I’m not scared of anything.” Robin shrugged off his question and started climbing a tree, in hopes to be able to find some clue to where they were or where they were supposed to go. 

“Hey I get it, you’re Robin. You’re not scared of anything, why would you be? It’s not like anything can penetrate that emotional shield of yours…” Wally muttered and kicked a rock as his ”partner” was disappearing into the top of the tree crowns.

“For god’s sake Rob can you get back down here sometime today?” Wally called out as he had grown annoyed waiting. He wasn’t feeling up to being ditched by the boy wonder.

 

“AHh-” Robin came flying down, hitting Wally right in the chest, causing them both to hit the ground. 

 

“Geez, did you forget how to climb while you were up there?” Wally growled trying to untangle himself from the boy.

“We need to go, now!” Robin jumped up and started pulling Wally with him. 

 

“What are you talk-” Wally didn’t have time to finish before he felt the whole ground quake and he looked behind them. Three ginormous mountain gorillas had followed Robin down to the ground and they did not look friendly. 

“Okay maybe we should go.” Wally agreed and started running. His superspeed wouldn’t work in the sim so he had to go at a moderately normal speed which really made for a disadvantage. 

“This way”, Robin pulled Wally with him as they turned a corners, passing some strange looking trees and then falling.

They hit the ground earlier than expected, Wally figured they’d fallen off a cliff but it seemed they had only tripped, into a cave. The environment had changed. It was dark and small now. No mountain gorillas rumbling the ground, no birds chirping in the trees, just silence. Raw, cutting silence.

“What the hell?” Wally said confused as he knocked on the stone walls. 

“This must be your fear man, I don’t mind small spaces. I didn’t know you were claustrophobic?” He said and looked over at Robin. However Robin looked fine, but he wasn’t facing Wally.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Wally walked up to him and touched the boys shoulder.

In response the raven haired boy bounced back, avoiding Wally’s confused gaze. 

“Yeah, uh- I never told you about it before...” Dick answered and almost pressed himself up against the opposite wall of Wally.

Wally snorted as he realized what was going on.  
“Oh my god. You’re not claustrophobic. You’re basically making out with that wall.” he chuckled humorlessly.

“You just don’t want to be alone with me…”, Wally said as the words felt like stabbings leaving his mouth. 

“No”, Dick answered but there was no way Wally would believed him. 

“Why? Why don’t you talk to me Dick?”, Wally asked closing in on the boy. “I try so hard to be honest with you! What happened yesterday was just a misunderstanding, I wasn’t hitting on that girl!” Wally had tried to tell him the truth but as always, Dick had just run away.

“But you never let me explain.” he said as he got closer, becoming more enraged. The Raven haired boy still refusing to show any emotion, say anything or even share a glance towards Wally. 

“Why Dick!? WHY DON’T YOU LOOK AT ME?!” Wally slammed the boy against the stone wall and glared into his eyes. And there he was. There was the boy that he was so desperately scared to admit his feelings for, the person he always counted on to guide, support and trust in. But now, his eyes were dull, showing nothing but a coldness and the shell of a body. Wally moved in close on the boy, making sure he’d feel his breath.

 

“You may think this whole Batman act is cool; that you’re untouchable, that this will protect you and everyone you care about. But it won’t.” he spat. “You’ll end up alone, hurting people along the way and I will not have it!” he pushed the boy aside and stepped back. Dick still remaining silent. 

“Abort simulation”, Wally said as clear as possible, his voice echoing through the room. The stone walls disappeared, the room was suddenly back to normal, showcasing a fluorescent light shining down on them both. Wally didn’t even hesitate to go for the door without looking back, wanting nothing to do with Dick because all he could see was those emotionless eyes staring back at him. It was ten times worse than any fury or sadness.

\---

Dick had spent all night thinking of how he was supposed to face Wally again and he had concluded that the only way possible would be if he seemed untouched by the event. It wasn’t like he had any right to be mad anyway.

So he had chosen to adapt Bruce’s behavior and cold exterior, he knew it was an awful idea and that it usually hurt more than showing any form of emotion but in that moment Dick had wanted Wally to hurt too. He’d wanted him to feel the same kind of pain that he had last night at the tivoli. But for that sort of pain to ever come near Wally was basically impossible, for he didn’t feel the same as Dick and he knew that. And that made him want to be cold, not just look the part, he wanted to disappear into the darkness that he’d seen Bruce do too many times. But he knew how hard it was to recover from it and no matter how angry he’d been at Wally he wasn’t going to become a permanent zombie, he’d never do that to the boy he lo-…

So now, standing abandoned in the training hall under the disgusting lights, boy wonder felt like he’d throw up. This wasn’t what I wanted, he’d seen right through me. But how? Robin asked himself, yet he already knew the answer, because it was Wally. His best friend. 

Dick hurried after the other and he caught up with the speedster around the room quarters after having gotten many confused looks on the way there by the team who were heading back to training. He’d ignored them all and just kept running. 

He saw the familiar shape and hurried up to it, Wally being unaware he was followed. He was forcefully rammed from behind and stumble trying to regain his balance. Once he turned around he saw Dick panting and glaring at him. 

“You’re such an ass Wally.” Dick said glaring at his friend. 

Wally instantly felt his heart rate speed up but didn’t back down even though he’d been caught by surprise. “Yeah? Well at least I don’t play faul like you!” he insinuated Dick’s emotionless responses.

“You knew that was a dick move but you still pulled it!” Wally had moved up on on the other boy and showed him hard in the chest. He was mad and sad and felt like he was burning from the inside out. 

“Well you deserve it from yesterday!” Dick pushed back. “It’s always some girl Wally! Always! Why, why can’t it ever be enough, enough with just…” he cut himself off and looked away tensing his jaw and biting his lip. 

Wally swallowed hard and looked down on the raven haired boy’s face, it looked furious but it all seemed to be a cover for a pain. 

“Enough with what?” Wally asked, he too tensing up at the heated argument that looked like it could turn into a wrestling match at any moment. 

Robin punched him hard in the chest but not enough for him to budge. He punched again and again and then he showed him as hard as he could. 

“Why can’t I ever be enough?!” he almost yelled in the empty corridor, the words carrying still around them, resting heavy in the air. Wally felt like someone had slapped him across the face, as if he was being insulted. Robin was everything, without him there was nothing.

“Don’t you get it Robin? You’re all that matters to me, nothing else!” he yelled at the boy and walked up to him. 

“I don’t want anyone else but you.” Wally said quietly, knowing he was risking everything. It felt like a badly scripted movie scene, like Wally had to say everything now or he’d stay forever silent.

“Prove it.” Dick said feeling genuinely scared, he didn’t know where their conversation was going but before he could change anything he felt two strong arms around him, pulling him closer. Dick didn’t even think before his arms were wrapping around Wally too… And suddenly their lips met. It was like everything fell into place, like a giant puzzle. All the pieces had always been there but now in the right order. 

Wally ripped off the Robin mask and Robin removed Wally’s headgear. The kiss grew deeper and they both stumbled back hitting the wall. Wally pinned the shorter man to the wall and moved his hands up into Dick’s hair. Dick felt the wall against his back and pulled Wally’s body closer so their chest were mare inches apart. Both of the boy’s faces grew red but they didn’t care. 

Wally pulled back slightly, letting them both breath, “was that reassuring enough?” he asked as he looked into Dick’s eyes. 

“I’m not sure.” Dick said in a serious tone and looked away.

Wally felt his heart drop as confusion and fear was blowing up inside of him.

“I might need some more convincing.” Dick looked up with a ridiculous grin on his face and Wally couldn’t help but laugh as he kissed the the boy again. 

“You’re such an ass sometimes you know” he mumbled through the kiss and tugged at the Robin suit. 

“I could say the same.” Dick replied.

\---

“Are you serious!?” Wally exclaimed with big eyes as he looked over at Dick on the bed. 

They had ended their makeout session earlier to talk and both the boys were equally surprised regarding each others feelings.

“3 years Dick, and you couldn’t have said anything?” Wally teased the boy and raised his eyebrows.

Dick felt a slight blush but didn’t back down, “It wasn’t three years! It started three years ago but I didn’t get it then… And same goes for you, you dufus!” he jokingly punched wally’s arm. 

“Hey! It’s mr. Dufus to you.” he continued their banter but couldn’t stop smiling. 

“Fine, mr. Dufus.” Dick pulled the boy closer, inches apart. “You could’ve said something too.” he whispered looking into the red haired boy’s eyes. 

“I really should’ve” Wally said as his eyes were traveling down to Dick’s lips.

“Robin we got a lead!” the door slammed open to Robin’s room and Wally was swiftly thrown back behind the bed, hitting the floor with a thud. 

Artemis was standing in the doorway panting as if she had ran to his room, “What are you doing?” she asked him with a confused look.

Robin who was fumbling with putting on his mask again laughed nervously, “Uhh- n-nothing!” he said and stood up straight. 

Artemis looked at him as if he was hiding something but then shook her head and remembered why she was there. 

“We got a lead with the League of Shadows! There’s a new drop off happening, Kaldur has everyone waiting in the hall for a briefing but we need you to hurry, I’ll go find Wally.” Artemis said and started to close the door.

“Wait!” Robin exclaimed. “I’ll get Wally, you just get back to the team. I think I know where he is.” he smirked. Artemis agreed but left with a confused look on her face.

“Thanks for that dude.” Wally’s head bopped up from behind the bed and so did his whole body once he saw they were alone again. 

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want her to find out like this. I don’t think now is the best time to tell people, especially since we ourselves just found out like... thirty minutes ago.” Dick said and tilted his head.

“Yeah you’re right… But you didn’t have to push me that hard.” Wally rolled his shoulder that he had landed on trying to stretch it out. 

Dick chuckled and grabbed some gadgets from his desk, “Come on, we have the world to save” 


End file.
